Hyatt: Past, Present, and Future

Todd Tomlin, formerly an executive with Hyatt Gold Passport and now in charge of plans to relaunch Hyatt gift cards, is a fellow travel junky just like you and I. He even shared a few tricks for evading Chinese visa requirements on mileage runs! I grew up a Hyatt fan, so it was great to hear him talk a bit about the history of Hyatt and the distinction between some of its brands, which has often confused me.

Hyatt started in 1957 as, believe it or not, an airport hotel. The original Hyatt House at LAX eventually branched into a chain of Hyatt House airport hotels before becoming the more upscale company it is today (of course, Hyatt House has returned as the new name for its extended stay brand after acquiring Summerfield Suites). Oddly enough, today there are no Hyatt hotels anywhere near LAX with shuttle bus service.

The first Hyatt House, opened in 1957 at LAX.

Hyatt architecture is certainly distinctive, and I should try to get Megan to write more about this. Hyatt helped launch the atrium concept in hotel design with the help of architect John Portman. Examples remaining today include the Hyatt Regency San Francisco-Embarcadero and the Hyatt Regency Houston. These hotels are also where Hyatt launched the first rotating restaurants, although most today do not rotate and have been converted into Regency Clubs. The little boy in me wishes those motors were still in action. 😀

Todd gave a brief overview of the different Hyatt brands, which I found interesting because I’ve been confused lately why certain hotels may be called a Regency property (or not) when they don’t really seem to be in the same league. Apparently the Regency designation has less to do with quality and more with the approach to service and amenities.

The three main Hyatt brands are Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, and Grand Hyatt. Other brands are either economy or super-luxury hotels. Hyatt Regency and Grand Hyatt hotels are large, full-service hotels that have meeting facilities and sometimes full-scale convention centers.

What is Hyatt, then? This brand was only started a couple years ago and always has a tagline for the city where it’s located (e.g., Hyatt Olive8 Seattle). They are geared to smaller cities that may already have another Hyatt brand or can’t support a Hyatt Regency and aim to include local influences. For example, the Hyatt Olive8 serves local wine and cheese in its Diamond welcome amenity (instead of serving Canvas wine, which is still good) and is LEED certified. Its restaurant, Urbane, partakes in the movement toward locally grown food. Some Hyatt hotels fulfill this local spirit ethos better than others, but at least now I know what to expect.

As for Hyatt’s future, I can relay that Hyatt has plans to limit cross-branding and cross-promotional exercises. Unlike, say, Starwood, which allows you to redeem your Starpoints with dozens of airlines and for non-hotel experiences, Hyatt wants you to use your Gold Passport points for Hyatt stays. And I’m fine with that; their award table is generally pretty good. Currently Hyatt has 175 hotels in the pipeline, meaning a 30% expansion to their portfolio, so you can look forward to more destinations to redeem your points in the future.

Rendering of the new Andaz Maui at Wailea, opening in 2013.

Hyatt is also considering the addition of cash + points awards and letting award stays count toward elite status, much like Starwood already allows. The main reason for not offering these earlier seems to be that Hyatt has some definite IT issues, as I’m sure we all know from using their website. Hyatt.com now allows you to store your credit card information in your profile and will soon add the ability to book award stays directly from the same page when searching for paid stays (currently you have to use different search tools for paid and award stays).

What about bath amenities? I shared last week that Portico White Ginger is on the way out. Although hotels still have to work through existing stock, new bath amenities will be appearing very soon. KenetMD is the new brand for main Hyatt brands, including Hyatt and Hyatt Regency. Hyatt Place and Hyatt House will be getting Be Well, a sub-brand of KenetMD. Some of you, like me, have already experienced June Jacobs at Grand Hyatt properties, which will become the new standard, while Park Hyatt properties will get Le Labo or Miller Harris. Andaz boutique hotels, as is their nature, will continue to choose their own toiletries individually.

Finally, someone piped up and asked how to get a Private Line agent, one of Hyatt Gold Passport’s personal reservations agents offered to Diamond guests for booking and managing all of their hotel stays. The short answer: by invitation only. I’m about to start my second year of Diamond status, so I’ll keep holding out hope that one of those invitations lands in my inbox. 😉

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About Scott Mackenzie

Scott is a former scientist and business student who created Travel Codex to unravel the complexity of travel loyalty programs. After 11 years in Seattle, he now lives in Austin with his wife and flies over 100,000 miles every year.

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Scott Mackenzie created Travel Codex to share his tricks for better travel.Over a dozen other bloggers have joined since 2012 to help uncover the secrets of travel loyalty programs.Learn more about all the regular contributors to Travel Codex!

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